THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 12, 2024 at 16:45 JST
A flier for the Dai Ogonten gold products sales event at the Takashimaya department store (Captured from the Takashimaya Co. website)
A thief brazenly made off with a tea bowl of pure gold with a 10.4-million-yen ($68,000) price tag during a sales event held at the upscale Takashimaya department store in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district.
Security camera footage captured a bespectacled man believed to be in his 20s or 30s walking away with the bowl around 11:40 a.m. on April 11. It had been displayed in a plastic case at the Dai Ogonten event for gold products.
A sales clerk noticed the item had gone missing and reported the matter to police at 12:16 p.m. The display case was not fitted with a lock or an alarm.
Investigative sources said the suspect stayed inside the department store for about 30 minutes.
Security camera footage showed him leaving the store at 12:07 p.m. and walking toward the Nihonbashi subway station.
The man was wearing a gray long-sleeved top and black trousers and carrying a gray backpack, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
The bowl, produced by goldsmith Koichi Ishikawa, is for “matcha” powdered green tea.
‘Ginger terror’ at Yoshinoya no laughing matter to police
April 5, 2023
Taylor Swift prepares for an epic journey to the Super Bowl
February 10, 2024
‘Donburi’ dish from Shimane inducted into rice bowl hall of fame
March 17, 2020
Yoshinoya beef bowl restaurant to raise its prices again in October
September 28, 2022
Chinese tea bowl masterpieces from medieval times on show
August 6, 2020
When told of Kishida attack, safety chief kept eating eel
April 27, 2023
Stories about memories of cherry blossoms solicited from readers
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series on the death of a Japanese woman that sparked a debate about criminal justice policy in the United States
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
